Accountancy jobs - what's yours?

silly_moo

Hi all. I need a bit of advice here. I'm doing ACCA and am to sit my final exam next week. However, a few weeks ago I found out I'm pregnant and have been suffering all the early pregnancy inconveniences. I'm off work currently as I'm meant to be studying but have spent the last few days either sleeping or feeling nauseous. At this stage I'm really considering not going to the exam, although I put in a lot of work before my PG symptoms kicked in.

I guess I just need some reassurance that not going to the exam is not the end of the world. I was so looking forward to becoming qualified and not having to waste my evenings studying and if I don't go it means more wasted evenings until June. My DH thinks I should go to the exam and see how it goes but I hardly did any studying over the past 3 weeks so I can't see how it could possibly go right?

Has anyone had a similar experience?

Acc72

silly_moo wrote: »

Has anyone had a similar experience?

Unfortunately I don't have similar experience ! - however, I would say you should try to attend the exam if you are up to it.

The tuition and exam fees have already been paid, and remember - you only need to get 50% to pass.

If you don't attend you definitely will not pass ! - but giving it a go at least gives you a chance to put those textbooks away !


Good luck.

MoneySavingUser

zildjian wrote: »

Thank you but i cant see a list of employers from the link you have provided?

I hate being the person who just asks tons of questions but, what should i expect from interviews from accountancy firms? (that wasnt meant to sound like im going to get many or anything)

see wikijob website and google competency interview

silly_moo wrote: »

Hi all. I need a bit of advice here. I'm doing ACCA and am to sit my final exam next week. However, a few weeks ago I found out I'm pregnant and have been suffering all the early pregnancy inconveniences. I'm off work currently as I'm meant to be studying but have spent the last few days either sleeping or feeling nauseous. At this stage I'm really considering not going to the exam, although I put in a lot of work before my PG symptoms kicked in.

I guess I just need some reassurance that not going to the exam is not the end of the world. I was so looking forward to becoming qualified and not having to waste my evenings studying and if I don't go it means more wasted evenings until June. My DH thinks I should go to the exam and see how it goes but I hardly did any studying over the past 3 weeks so I can't see how it could possibly go right?

Has anyone had a similar experience?

Tough choice - do you know if the syllabus has any major changes for next year

It depends on how confident you are - if you do it next year you'll have had more time to study

If you do it this time and don't do so well then you might be over stressed next time

btw which exam is it - P7?

Red_Elle

I own an Accountancy recruitment company. With regards to unemployed Accountants I would say that it's one of the more stable professions.

I set up at the height of the recession and it didn't cause me any problems. I'm incredibly busy at the moment, having had 5 jobs called into me on Friday and Monday - variety of positions:

Part Qual Assistant Accountant industry role, FC role, Audit Senior Practice, Credit Control Supervisor industry and Accountant in industry.

When companies are not doing well the accounts team is the last to go. A good Accountant can not just save you money, but help you make money, so companies will still need one during difficult times.

Also think there is some confusion over what you study and where.

ACCA and ACA are done in Practices. ACCA and CIMA can be taken when working in industry. AAT is a lower level qualification, but still valuable. The vast majority of firms will support ACCA, not all will support ACA. Depends what the firm does and how many training places they have. Big firms often recruit straight from the top universities.

silly_moo

Thanks for the replies Acc72 and MoneySavingUser

The exam is P4 so there shouldn't be any syllabus changes. I always do home study so the only waste will be the exam fee. Plus if I don't go now I'd need to take the exam while 8 mths PG but then I know many people who did that so it's doable.

The problem is I don't feel like I can do it. I went through the books and took notes but did very little question practice. I was meant to be doing questions and past papers in the last 4 weeks before the exam but only managed to start all the compulsory ones from the BPP P&R Kit. So far I probably did only 20 practice questions and not from all parts of the syllabus (and I was really cheating by checking the answers too soon). I have been trying to study for the past couple of days but didn't manage to do more than 2 hours a day!

I'll keep trying to study and then make my decision later in the week.

Any

silly_moo wrote: »

Hi all. I need a bit of advice here. I'm doing ACCA and am to sit my final exam next week. However, a few weeks ago I found out I'm pregnant and have been suffering all the early pregnancy inconveniences. I'm off work currently as I'm meant to be studying but have spent the last few days either sleeping or feeling nauseous. At this stage I'm really considering not going to the exam, although I put in a lot of work before my PG symptoms kicked in.

I guess I just need some reassurance that not going to the exam is not the end of the world. I was so looking forward to becoming qualified and not having to waste my evenings studying and if I don't go it means more wasted evenings until June. My DH thinks I should go to the exam and see how it goes but I hardly did any studying over the past 3 weeks so I can't see how it could possibly go right?

Has anyone had a similar experience?

P4... that means Advanced Financial Management, doesn't it? How did you do in F9 then? Felt comfortable with that pass?

Not going into the exam is not a big deal, no. Why would it be?

However.... You already have done most of the work - that would be wasted. You would have to start the study of this paper all over again. And how do you know you will be better then? My friend at 8 mths wasn't able to drive, never mind sit still at a table and concentrate on something else then her back, how to reach a keyboard or anything.
And if you don't sit it then... Then it is next December. A year between this study and actualy taking the exam... And with a baby...

I personally would try the exam. The worse thing that can happen is that you fail. But then you will know more for next time!! But the chances are you won't. You will have a baby and be qualified, without having to think about where to get the time to study, stress about the exam etc etc... These exams take months of your life at a time...

And good luck by the way - It's P5 for me next week. Also my last one!

silly_moo

Thanks Any, I'll think over your advice.

Good luck with P5 - I passed it in June. I'm generally more of a P5 than P4 kind of person. I did ok in F9 (65%) but had to put more effort into it than into any other F exam.

Acc72

silly_moo wrote: »

I'll keep trying to study and then make my decision later in the week.

Do try to sit the exam - my comment about the 50% pass mark was stating the obvious, but also from my own observations (I sat accountancy exams straight from Uni so was still in "student mode" of just trying to pass the exam, whereas I noticed that other students who had worked for a while were trying to get every answer 100% correct (as in the real world of work, you won't get any awards for getting your work half right !).

You have nothing to lose - good luck !

Poppy9

silly_moo wrote: »

Has anyone had a similar experience?

Go and sit the exam as you have nothing to lose. You can't be worse off than you are now so you may as well sit it.

At 8 months pregnant for the next go you will have other pregnancy side effects, a year on with a young baby you will be tired. Okay so you may not have done as much revision/practice as you would ideally like but you've studied the course for the last few months so you have stored knowledge.

There is always a risk with exams that you are ill on the day too! I woke up with a stomach bug on the morning of two exams which were both 3 hours long. How I held onto the contents of my stomach during the exams I don't know. I was in a dreadful state, forgot my calculator etc. but I passed both exams (one with 89% the other with just 68%).

So dust yourself off and knuckle down for the next few days. Remember you are pregnant not ill and it helps you get through.

Good luck glad my exam days are long, long behind me but I'm good at motivating my DD:D

tunde10

Hi all

I have just completed registeration for ACCA and will take my first paper(P2) in June. I got exemptions from all the 9 F papers through taking the exams at university. Since i graduated last summer, i worked on a temporary basis for a property management company in their finance department. My main day to day role was admin based mainly collating service charge invoices. However i was also given the occasional tasks such as assisting in production of cash-flow statements, inputting data onto a database system & other excel based tasks. About 2weeks ago i was offered a promotion & permanent position and will start training as accounts assistant doing mainly purchase ledger work.

What i wanted to know is that, does my 1st year experience count towards my 3yrs work experience needed to become fully qualified after my ACCA exams? It is not a big deal as i am only 22, and plan to only do 1exam at a time which will take 2 & 1/2 years to complete anyway. But it would be nice to know i already have 1yr experience under my belt.

Thanks